The present invention relates, in general, to a current collector device, and more particularly to a current collector vehicle or trolley for traveling in a current contact line having a bottom formed longitudinally with a slot and accommodating longitudinally therein current conductor rails, with the current collector trolley including a base body extending through the slot to the outside and having sliding contacts which are forced into contact with the conductor rails during operative mode and electrically connected outside the current contact line to a multicore collector cable.
German Pat. No. DE 28 31 882 A1 describes a current collector trolley of this type. The trolley is made essentially of a flat base body having rotatably mounted wheels thereon for travel inside a hollow current collector line. The base body includes sliding contacts which are in forced contact with the conductor rails during operation. A multicore current collector cable is secured to the base body and electrically connected to the sliding contacts, with the base body extending outwards through the longitudinal slot formed in the bottom of the contact line.
A drawback of this conventional current collector trolley is the provision of individual, electrically insulated conductors of round cross section for connection of the sliding contacts with the collector cable so that the longitudinal slot in the contact line must exhibit a relatively great width. As a consequence, the protection of the current contact line against accidental touching of the electrical contacts becomes more complicated. Moreover, the round configuration of the current conductors prevents a compact structure of the trolley so that the travel of the trolley is particularly adversely affected when negotiating a curve where trolleys of longer design are typically subject to increased wear.